The 9513 - Country Music Blog

At some level, it has always been about the road for Timothy B. Schmit. Before travelling uncountable highway miles playing bass in the country-rock band Poco for nearly a decade, and before charting courses around the world as a member of The Eagles, it was about chasing the song on tires. For this Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, music and home were one as a child in a trailer on wheels.

Close to 50 years after its purchase, Schmit has gotten reflective about the Expando double-wide mobile home trailer that his family upgraded to after his musician father settled down working at a club in Sacramento. After chasing the next gig with his family in tow, Schmit’s father finally put down roots when Timothy was roughly a tween. The brand new shiny trailer with the pop-out sides, nearly twice as big as their old home, was the place where Schmit was raised and bitten by the music bug.

Now, a worn classic advertisement for that trailer is blown up large and is mounted on the wall of Schmit’s studio–partly for inspiration, but also partly for reminding him of his roots and exactly where he came from. Expando is also the title for his latest solo album, released this past month on Lost Highway records.

The 9513 had an opportunity to sit down with the legend and talk trailers and tracks.

KEN MORTON, JR.: Let’s open up by looking back a bit. You got your start in music playing in a band called Tim, Tom & Ron in our hometown of Sacramento at Encina High School. Is that what brought you to music in the first place or was it before?

TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT: It was before. My father was a musician, that’s what he did for his livelihood. From before I was born, he played the club scene and did standards of the day. They were a trio and did a little comedy. He was gone for the first part of my life a lot until I was about five years old. Then, about that time, my parents sold our house down in the Bay Area and moved into a trailer house. He pulled us around from town to town to wherever he was playing. He was probably my first real musical influence. From there, I started playing various instruments in early school. I sang in the chorus at school. I always took to the music thing.

KMJ: What kind of music was your dad playing in those days?

TBS: He was pretty active through the 50s and early 60s actually, in the club scene. The club scene back in the 30s, 40s and 50s was a lot of supper clubs. They would host a group for a week at a time. He was one of those groups that they would hire. It was really standards of the day. It was pre rock and roll actually. It was whatever was popular on the radio at the time. They weren’t songwriters, they’d just interpret the songs.

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Songwriters: Brett James & Tim Nichols.

Chris Young’s self-titled first album suffered from an acute case of Underwooditis: a great voice, but not-so-great material. While the dozens of Nashville Star viewers may have bought the record, the subsequent radio play just wasn’t enough to make him a household name. His second album has been much better received, with “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” recently topping the charts and “Voices” breaking into the Top 40 back in May 2008.

The title track and third single from his sophomore album, “The Man I Want to Be,” is written by a pair of proven rainmakers. Brett James (”Jesus, Take the Wheel”) and Tim Nichols (”Live Like You Were Dying”) start things off with a killer opener, “God, I’m down here on my knees ’cause it’s the last place left to fall/Begging for another chance if there’s any chance at all” and although some lyrics are a little too bland to be particularly moving (”I wanna be a givin’ man/I wanna really start livin’, man” is the worst offender), “The Man I Want to Be” is certainly good enough to hold its own when compared to the similarly inspirational hits penned by Nichols and James mentioned above.

In the hands of a lesser singer, this single would be radio filler in between songs about being country and songs about high school; however, Young sells it, truly sounding as though he’s at the end of his rope and praying to anyone who’ll listen. He possesses perhaps the best voice to hit commercial country since Josh Turner first hit the scene, and his vocal turn on “The Man I Want to Be” is slightly reminiscent of Keith Whitley.

“The Man I Want to Be” is definitely capable of success: it’s got the catchy, radio-friendliness of “Gettin’ You Home” while also being (neo)traditional enough to lessen the grief of those sitting shiva after last week’s CMAs. Better get used to hearing from Chris Young: at only 24 years old, he’s got the talent and potential to make some mighty fine music.

Listen: Chris Young – “The Man I Want To Be”

• Songwriter Chris DuBois, producer Frank Rogers, and Brad Paisley are launching a new Sony Nashville record label imprint called Sea Gayle Records. The label’s debut artist is Jerrod Niemann (MySpace). (via All About Country)
• The Country Music Hall of Fame website got a makeover. (via Country Music Tattle Tale)
• Nashville At Nite attended last week’s BMI Country Awards and published video interviews with country singers Jimmy Wayne, Sarah Buxton, Jake Owen, Eric Church, Trent Tomlinson, Little Big Town, Keith Anderson, Jason Michael Carroll, Joey + Rory, and faux country singer Danny Gokey (to be fair to Gokey, a few of the other could probably fit in this category, too).
• In an interview with American Songwriter, Chase Heard — one of the primary songwriters of the Wrinkle Neck Mules (MySpace) — talked about his band’s recent release:
  

  Let the Lead Fly was created in the same vein as our previous record The Wicks Have Met, but it skews towards the rootsier end of the Mules spectrum. When we sat down to record this album we actually had about 30 songs we were really excited about putting out. We ultimately decided to split them up and release this batch of songs first. The heavier songs were held back for next project which should make its way to the surface in the near future.

• The Judds may or may not be reuniting in 2010.
• New album reviews from Country Weekly’s Chris Neal: Joe Nichols‘ Old Things New, Kris Kristofferson’s Closer to the Bone, Veronica Ballestrini’s What I’m All About, and Sam Bush’s Circles Around Me.

• Music Fog videos:

  • Sarah Jarosz – “Tell Me True”
  • The Wiyos – “Dontchaletmecatchya”
• You know you’ve made it in country music when…
• This week in country music history, according to Country California.
  

  2004 – Sugarland performs “Baby Girl” during its Grand Ole Opry debut. Backstage after the performance, Kristian Bush comments on what a huge honor this must be for the Opry.

• @ashleymonroe: I’m worried sick about the future of country music.. that’s all I’ll say.
• Country Haiku:
  

  I really prefer
  When you say nothing at all
  So STFU

• Post Rock’s David Malitz and Chris Richards ponder the point of full album concerts — those concerts where an entire album is played, start-to-finish, in order. Still, there are at least ten albums they’d love to hear recreated by the original players. What are your thoughts on full album concerts, and what country albums would you like to hear in concert from beginning to end?

On paper, an album that leads with four original songs—two of those hot in groove and content—then enters a long stretch of languid, story-centric covers, before wrapping up with an all-out rock and roll cut and a string-band reprisal of one of those earlier bawdy numbers might come off as a tad fragmented. Whose album it is makes all the difference in the world. And it happens to be Lyle Lovett’s, the embodiment of Texas musical breadth; the man who has, throughout his 24-year recording career—briefly begun in the progressive ‘80s country mainstream, but mostly spent out by the country/Americana border—dared to treat singer-songwriter folk, jump blues, western swing, honky tonk and gospel all as suitable building blocks for a body of work. Needless to say, Natural Forces makes good sense coming from him.

That famed Large Band of Lovett’s, referenced in the titles of no less than two of his albums, is not so large here. Gone is the bright, jazzy coloring the horns and gospely backing choir contributed to 2007’s It’s Not Big It’s Large. His new album is, for the most part, a sparer, more acoustic-based affair befitting the earthiness of both the material and the way he delivers it. Subtly, very subtly, he draws together the elements of his oeuvre, reminding us what elaborate introspective storytelling and singing the blues can have to do with each other. That point isn’t made terribly often—not convincingly, at least—in any sector of contemporary country.

The churning country-blues title track opens the set with a confession of restlessness rife with Texas (and generally southwestern) imagery, natural and man-made. Then Lovett turns to natural forces of a slightly different sort. He’s often written with prodigious wit, but “Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel” (for some reason—tracklist G-ratedness or the element of surprise—he opted not to use the lyric hook, “choke my chicken,” as the title) and “Pantry” are among his finest achievements in the double entendre arena. “Farmer Brown” swings hard, with Lovett and the drums, then Lovett and an enthusiastic chorus (made up of the musicians on the session) locked in an energetic call-and-response, invoking chicken-choking of both the barnyard and human male varieties. “Pantry” is the very next track. It’s a rollicking, steel-laced two-beat, and a plea for sexual and downhome culinary fidelity: “Keep it in your pantry.”

Once those two are out of the way, followed by a wistful ballad from Lovett’s pen titled “Empty Blue Shoes,” it’s almost all songs by Texans who aren’t him from there on out. New and original Lovett material is a welcomed thing; but in the case of a shortage, he knows how to select sturdy songs that feel natural for him to sing. A few of the songwriters he drew on for his 1998 two-disc covers album Step Inside This House pop up here as well. Townes Van Zandt’s an obvious choice. Eric Taylor and Vince Bell, not so much, although Taylor’s “Whooping Crane,” a yearning, finger-picking folk number that rather poetically captures a sense of environmental and spiritual loss, and Bell’s introspective “Sun and Moon and Stars,” which balances stubbornness and regret, are a couple of fine moments. So is David Ball’s “Don’t You Think I Feel It Too,” a willowy Texas waltz that plumbs the sadness on both sides of ebbing love.

These songs are all about evocative lyrics; their melodies and chord movements are understated, though pleasing, support. But Lovett sings them sensually, a little more sensually, it seems, than he has some songs of that ilk in the past. He sounds familiar enough with the material to relax and feel, rather than focus on, the words; to bring a bodily aspect of what he does—singing like a sly, blues-shaded devil—to that other, more confessional form of expression. Natural Forces probably won’t replace Lovett’s early triumphs—Pontiac, for one—as a career-defining recording, but it’s plenty satisfying.

Although Blake’s review of Play, Carrie Underwood’s latest album, didn’t receive much attention last week (insert sarcasm here), there was an interesting question brought up in the comments section by the reviewer himself that got lost in a sea of proclamations of pop boundaries and visions of a country music apocalypse.

Blake pondered on a shift in our country artists’ images and the way country fans want them to be:

On a roll now. To me, it seems there’s been a gentle turn in how fans view their country singers. While the top stars used to be a representation of who they are, the top stars, now more mainstream than ever in nearly every capacity, seem to exist now as who they want to be, whether that be a beautiful, hockey star/NFL quarterback-dating college grad, an SNL-hosting phenomenon or other celeb-culture supernova (Lady A hangin’ with Katherine Heigl! OMG! Brad and Kimberly at a Hollywood premiere! Swoon!) The newfound fame of Nashville’s biggest, well, it taps into the fantasies of many Middle Americans (Visions of 30 Rock dance in my head. Anyone?). It’s a thesis I’ve been tossing around in my head for a while, and since a 200-comment thread just ain’t enough, I’d figure I’d throw it out there. I think there’s a sizable portion of the hardcore country listening audience that’s turned off by the (petty?) problems of this new mainstream brigade and will never connect to the dramas presented in their songs, regardless of how “country” it sounds. Is everybody too popular now? Is everybody too pretty?

Celebrity worship has always been around in Hollywood and beyond, but the country genre has always lauded itself to be “real music for real people.”

Do you think there has been a shift in the celebrity images of country stars? Do you prefer your favorite singer to be a a representation of yourself (with a few extra dollars) or an extension of that?

Also, to address Blake last question: Do you think there’s a group within country music – whether we call them traditionalists, Americana fans or something else – who are more turned off by the current reigning mainstream singers’ “dramas” than their music? To quote Blake: “Is everybody too popular now? Is everyone too pretty?”

Hopping on a 747 is slightly less romantic than hitting the open road, but there are some decent country songs in which planes are featured. Here’s a few of ‘em, from my iPod to yours.

• Honorable Mention: “If Love Was a Plane” – Brad Paisley

  If love were actually a plane, Paisley says, most of us would be flying Buddy Holly Airlines.

• 5. “One Last Time” – Dusty Drake

  Remember this guy? “One Last Time” is an incredibly depressing song about a man who calls his wife as his plane is going down, but it was also Drake’s highest charting single from his self-titled debut album.

• 4. “I Never Did Like Planes” – Robbie Fulks

  My favorite version of this song is from Fulks’ countrypolitan album Georgia Hard, though those who’d like a more traditional sound should check out Dallas Wayne’s take on it. Either way, this song about a just-dumped fella flying the unfriendly skies is a sad one.

• 3. “Outbound Plane” – Tom Russell

  “Outbound Plane,” written by Russell and Nanci Griffith (originally on her album Little Love Affairs) is an upbeat, sing-in-the-shower type song, but the lyric itself is kind of a downer, what with the whole “Talk is cheap/So we could talk all night long/We may never figure out just where our love went wrong.” Suzy Bogguss’ version went to #9 in 1991.

• 2. “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” – Highwaymen

  In the late ’40s, a plane carrying 28 migrant workers crashed, leading Woody Guthrie to pen these lyrics and give names to those who were ignored in the press coverage of the tragedy. On this version, the Highwaymen are joined by Johnny Rodriguez.

• 1. “Boulder to Birmingham” – Emmylou Harris

  This aching, gorgeous tribute to Gram Parsons, from seminal album Pieces of the Sky technically isn’t about planes, but who can forget its opening lines “I don’t want to hear a love song/I got on this airplane just to fly.”

• The 43rd Annual CMA Awards was the most watched show in four years, logging an average of 16.85 million viewers, a number that is distorted by consumers who record the show to watch on their own time. The record for the CMA Awards is 36 millions viewers, set in 1978, when Dolly Parton was crowned entertainer of the year.
• The New Yorker’s John Seabrook recounts a recent trip Robert Earl Keen took to Mandolin Brothers, the vintage-instrument store on Staten Island.
  

  Finally, Jay handed Keen a Martin 000-45, one of only two hundred and sixty-five ever made, from 1930. Keen strummed it once, cocked his head, and then asked for a pick.

  “You know what I said about some guitars just having songs in them?” he said. “This is one of them.” Keen’s fingers moved over the strings, but the rest of him seemed to float toward the ceiling.

  “How much?” he asked, when he’d finished playing.

  “Sixty-five thousand.”

  “Damn, I always go for the most expensive guitar in the place, and after that nothing else sounds as good.”

  Jay said the guitar was on hold for someone else, but “I could notify you if he doesn’t want it.”

  “Yeah, right. Maybe you could also notify my banker.”

  “Certainly,” Jay said. “And your wife. I’m good with wives. Do you want to call her now?” Jay pointed toward the phone in the next room. But Keen knew better than to follow him there.

• Chet Flippo argues that the CMA would have lost credibility had they not acknowledged Taylor Swift’s dominance. Now, the problem is figuring out where to go from here:
  

  I know one thing: There are a lot of CMA voters who woke up this morning and thought, “What did we just do? Who did I just wake up next to? Four major CMA Awards at age 19? We just gave her the keys to the kingdom. Now what?”

• Justin Townes Earle’s tour schedule for early 2010.
• The Boston Globe’s Sarah Rodman introduces WPA (Works Progress Administration), a supergroup that doesn’t like being called a supergroup. (MySpace)
  

  [...] fans of pop, roots, folk, bluegrass, and country music who pay attention to liner notes will undoubtedly think the WPA membership list is pretty damn super. The octet, which formed following various cross-pollinations over the years at the Los Angeles club Largo, comprises musicians who have played on hundreds of albums.

• As Tim McGraw’s acting experience increases, so do his roles. His next movie, The Blind Side, will be released next Friday and Randy Travis, who has seen all of McGraw’s movies, is rooting for his fellow country star. Travis is no stranger to the camera himself, and tells The Tennessean’s Cindy Watts that his dream role would be playing in a Western with Kevin Costner or Clint Eastwood.
• Vernell Hackett recapped Gary Allan’s performance at the Ryman last night for The Boot.
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s annual American Master Music series will take place Saturday with a tribute concert to Janis Joplin. Guy Clark, Ray Benson, and Lucinda Williams are among the artists scheduled to perform. Clark commented on his involvement with the show:
  

  “I’m going to do the old blues song “Trouble in Mind” (on Saturday). I’d bet anything we both learned that from Lightnin’ Hopkins. Janis’ version and mine are pretty much the same, aside from the vocals. I’m not scared, you know, but I’m not really sure why I’m doing this. I wasn’t a bosom buddy, but I guess there was some connection they wanted to make. They asked me to do an original, too, and I chose ‘She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.’ It kind of reminds me of what Janis was going through when she left Texas.”

• Farce the Music: R.I.P. Country Music
• Chapter 16’s Paul McCoy interviewed Barry Mazor on the subject of his recent book Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, which is described as more of a biography of the music than the man.
  

  [...] a few people have expressed shock that Jimmie Rodgers dies, in this book, in chapter six out of fifteen, despite being warned that it’s not a conventional biography. It really is the life story of the music, not just of the man.

• Merle Haggard & The Strangers at Opryland in 1981. That thar is very nice radio broadcast.
• The Buck Owens compilation 21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection is on sale for $3.99 on Amazon!
• Fresh off his new artist of the year win at the CMA Awards, Darius Rucker told reporters most of his next album is written and recording will begin next month. One more single will be released from Learn To Live, followed by a single from the new record, and eventually the new record itself sometime next year.

• Atlanta-based band The Whiskey Gentry — they bill themselves as everything from bluegrass to punk to gospel to outlaw country to old-time rock and roll — recently released a new video for its song “Four Horseman.” Enjoy. (MySpace)

Calling Julianne Hough talented and busy would be making understatements on both accounts. The ACM’s Top New Vocalist of the Year in 2009 is starring in two upcoming feature films, co-authoring the “Goddess Guide For Getting Closer” (sponsored by Venus), and releasing her very own work-out video in December, all while prepping her ever-so-important sophomore album.

Luckily, Hough was able to spend a few minutes catching up with The 9513 the day after the CMA Awards.

PIERCE GREENBERG: Big night last night, huh?

JULIANNE HOUGH: It was a good night. It was great—very fun. I’m really happy for Taylor. It was her night.

PG: Yeah, I know you and Taylor are pretty good friends. Did you get a chance to speak with her after the show?

JH: Not really because, obviously, she was doing press and stuff. I headed over to my label and she headed to her party. But we texted each other this morning and she’s super excited. We’re going to go to Tim McGraw’s premiere tonight so we’ll see each other there.

PG: I’ve always kind of wondered this about you and Taylor: Do you ever wonder about what it would be like to live the typical 20-year-old American lifestyle? Do you ever feel like you’re missing out on anything?

JH: Well, yeah, absolutely. I lived in London from when I was 10 to 15 and so I actually wanted to know what it was like to go to high school and have that experience when I was 15. I was not a typical 10-year-old or 15-year-old either, so I moved back and went to high school. It was great and I absolutely loved my experience there. But what I do now, and being 21 and being so blessed and so fortunate to do what I’m doing, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love what I do.

PG: Last time we talked to you, I think it was about two years ago, and your album was just about to come out. How much have you grown as a person since then?

JH: Oh my goodness, (laughing). I am like two different people. That is just a whole different person. I grew so much just being out on the road and touring and being able to see what works and what doesn’t. And I’d never been in the studio before, so I learned so much who I was and how my voice is. Just being out on tour and singing songs every night, I grew.

With this new record I’m working on now, I’m writing a lot for it because I feel like I know exactly what I want now and what my fans like too. Just being able to write and feel like you’re a creative person is a huge deal. I’m real excited. Plus, just being out on the road, my voice is getting stronger and stronger and it will continue to get stronger, hopefully, until I’m 50. (laughing)

So I’m definitely excited about this new record and I’ve definitely grown massive amounts.

PG: I recall you saying in an interview a couple of years ago that you kind of quit the whole Dancing With the Stars thing because you wanted people to take you seriously as a singer. Do you think you’ve accomplished that or do you still feel like you have to prove yourself?

JH: I feel like I’ll always have something to prove just because that’s the type of person that I am. But honestly, I feel like everybody has welcomed me and has taken me seriously and have been so supportive. I guess it’s just doing your thing and not really trying. I think people can see through people who try too hard to prove something…rather than just being themselves. So, I feel like people have really accepted me and I’m very, very fortunate.

PG: In the mean time, it kind of seems like you have your hand in a few upcoming films—so have your priorities changed at all when it comes to the music?

JH: My priorities haven’t changed. My record and my music are always going to be my number one. I think that’s where my heart truly is. I love to act. I’ve been acting as long as I’ve been singing and dancing. So, with the films I’m doing, I get to sing in both and dance in both and then act, of course, in both. It’s just really fun to be able to be a part of these movies. I’m having a blast with them. They are absolutely phenomenal.

PG: Switching back to the music, is there any kind of timeline for the second album? Have you started that process?

JH: Yeah, we’re hoping that the new single will be out in the beginning of the year, end of January/beginning of February. Then, the album will be the summer—like, May. So, I’m really excited about it. Actually, I’m done now until January with anything else. I’m completely home here in Nashville focused on getting all the vocals on my record, so I’m super excited.

PG: What’s the biggest difference in making the album this time vs. making the first album?

JH: I think just the experience. Your first time around, you’re not really sure and you put your trust in a lot of people and you kind of doubt yourself. This time around, I really know exactly what I want and I’m not going to doubt myself.

I’m not going to try and be so perfect on everything—I’m just going to sing. I’m going to sing how I want to sing and sing how I sing live. I feel like my live shows definitely showcase who I am more than my first record. I’m going to just go do my thing.

PG: What do you hope to accomplish with the second album?

JH: The first record was great for what it was. It was very rushed and very light-hearted—there wasn’t a lot of depth to it, but it was great for what it was and showed my personality. This next one, I really want to get great songs. It’s all about the songs and I feel like there’s a lot inside me that I can do, but it starts with a song.

I feel like my songs, this time around, have a lot more meaning and they’re really true to who I am. And they’ve got the groove, with me being a dancer, I want to have some groove to everything. And it’ll have the country lyrics that everybody loves—the storytelling and the realness of everything. I really hope people will see a more mature—not edgier as in rock and roll, but edgier as in mature—side of me.

PG: You’ve teamed up with Venus to help co-author a book and provide tips to girls to help feel better about themselves. Could you talk about that and how it feels to be a role model for young girls out there?

JH: Well, that’s the thing. I feel like I hold a lot of responsibility to be role model, so I want to make sure that things that I say are actually true to what I believe in and that will hopefully help girls with their self-esteem and confidence. This Goddess Guide definitely does that as far as giving tips from beauty to health to fitness to your finances and dating. But it’s all about being that confident woman and making sure that you’re really happy with who you are.

There’s tips that I use for myself that I put in there as far as the fitness ones and dating ones. It’s fun, it’s young and it’s something that a lot of girls will find like “oh, man, I’ve never tried that, I’m going to try that this time.”

Of course, as far as the beauty goes, the Venus Embrace, for me, is one of my key things—not just for the summer, but all year long. Especially going into winter, when you’re skin is a lot dryer, the Venus Embrace keeps your legs so smooth and silky… well yeah, you’re such a guy, it feels weird talking to you about that. (laughing)

PG: No worries, we have females read The 9513, too.

JH: It’s just my tips. I’ve got a fitness DVD coming out December 15—that’s just like a work-out video. So, it’s fun! It’s all about being true and self confidence and being true to yourself.

We just received an Advance for Gary Allan’s upcoming (eighth) studio album, Get Off On The Pain, which is rumored to have a February 2010 release. The disc features 10 songs (tentatively, as is always the case with pre-issue tracklists), including Allan’s current single “Today.” CMT is reporting that Allan wrote or co-wrote five of the tracks. The title cut was chosen as the name for Allan’s 2009 tour.

After a handful of initial listens, my early read is that this is a significant return to form for Allan after 2007’s disappointing Living Hard. More details and a review to come as we approach release date.

Gary Allan – Get Off On The Pain Tracklist:

1. “Get Off On The Pain”
2. “I Think I’ve Had Enough”
3. “Today”
4. “That Ain’t Gonna Fly”
5. “Kiss Me When I’m Down”
6. “We Fly By Night”
7. “When You Give Yourself Away”
8. “Along The Way”
9. “She Gets Me”
10. “No Regrets”

Songwriter: Anthony Caleb Followill

When a new artist releases a cover song as his or her first single–especially a cover of a non-country song–there are two ways it could flesh out.

A cover song comes with a built-in audience, or at least an “Oh-that-sounds-familiar” audience. And those 20-some extra seconds a familiar tune may buy can make all the difference between a listener turning the radio dial (or clicking the “Next” button on Pandora) and hanging around long enough to become invested in a new voice, one of the biggest obstacles hanging over an emerging artist’s head.

But, as Randy Travis would remind us, there’s always the other hand: A cover song can signal an artist’s reliance on material that may be more commercially profitable than artistically worthwhile, and it invites inevitable comparisons between the new version and its predecessors.

Newcomer Margaret Durante’s debut release “Use Somebody,” a cover of Nashville-based pop/rock band Kings of Leon’s chart-topping hit, falls somewhere between the two. While Durante’s performance doesn’t show any symptoms of laziness, the same can’t be said for her success in making the song her own or providing potential fans with any signs of her point of view as an artist.

Of course, there’s a reason the song was popular and often-covered: Its lonely urgency is underscored thoughtful, interesting lyrics like “Off in the night, while you live it up, I’m off to sleep/Waging wars to shape the poet and the beat/I hope it’s gonna make you notice/I hope it’s gonna make you notice/Someone like me”.

Established singers Paramore, Nickelback and Kelly Clarkson have taken their own stabs at the hit, albeit as one-offs featured during concerts and special acoustic sets. However, Durante–or, more likely, her handlers at record label Universal Republic–chose to introduce herself to the country music world with a “country” version of the song.

By “country,” I mean Durante delivers the song from a female’s point of view in the stylings of Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat: She finds a natural rhythm that complements her vocals, but any brief glimpses of her interesting twang are disrupted by “whoa-whoas” featured throughout the song. And even though the original song’s hipster edge is shaved off with superfluous strains of steel guitar and fiddle, the production and arrangement remain disappointingly similar.

Although Jimi Hendrix famously covered “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” just two days after its initial release, it feels a little soon to reinterpret a song that debuted just under one year ago; however, because her target audience may be largely unfamiliar with the tune and its writers, that probably won’t be a hindrance for Durante.

Still, in terms of bringing a convincing female perspective to the song, Durante doesn’t come close to indie singer Laura Jansen’s version of the tune, which marries an original arrangement with a genuine delivery. Here’s hoping Durante brings original material like “Put Yourself in my Blues” (a tune featured on her MySpace profile that’s worth the click) on her next go-round at a bid for a slot on country radio.

Listen: Margaret Durante – “Use Somebody”